Faculty

GOVT-2306 Texas State and Local Government

Julz Decker

Credit Fall 2024

Section(s)

GOVT-2306-039 (90715)
LEC DIL ONL DIL

GOVT-2306-041 (90717)
LEC DIL ONL DIL

GOVT-2306-042 (90718)
LEC DIL ONL DIL

Course Requirements

Grading: Exams/ Quizzes/ Activities & Response Papers/ and Extra Credit

Exams

Exams must be taken on ACC’s Respondus Lockdown Browsers. Exams are not open book but students will be well prepared by the materials provided. Exams are 50 question multiple choice tests.

There will be four objective exams (multiple choice and true/false) administered during the regular semester and a comprehensive optional final exam. The final exam may be taken to replace the lowest test score or a missed exam. It is optional for students who have not missed an exam and are satisfied with their grade. Make-up exams will NOT be administered unless there are extreme and documented events that have led to the missing of more than one exam and the instructor approves. Exams will count for 70% of the course grade.

Quizzes

There will be quiz questions at the end of each of the eBook chapters. (If you cannot afford the eBook, contact me for an alternative). Students will have two attempts to submit each chapter quiz. The higher of the two attempts will be recorded as the grade for that individual quiz. The quizzes for each assigned chapter will be due the evening the corresponding exam closes. The quiz point total will be weighted at averaged at the end of the semester for 10% of your course grade.

Activities & Response Papers

Over the course of the semester students will be asked to participate in an activity or respond to a prompt with a short paper. To earn credit for the activities and response papers they must stay germane to the topic, be civil and thoughtful, satisfy the A&R parameters, and be completed by the assigned due date. Grades will be assigned based on completion for activities and quality of response for the short written responses. There are five short Activities and Response papers and they will comprise 20% of the course grade. The use of AI in any way to work on this paper or it’s grammar (outside of spell check) is not allowed. Use of AI generated work (including Grammarly) is plagiarism and will be given a grade of zero and an academic violation will be filed. DO NOT USE AI. You will hopefully find the activities and response interesting.

Extra credit

Extra credit can be gained by responding to news articles posted by the instructor that will deal with current political events either on the national or state level. For each of the four units one extra credit point can be gained and added to the overall course grade. Meaning you can raise your course grade by 4 full points by the end of the semester.

Your semester grade will be calculated as follows:

Exams 70%

Activities & Response Papers 20%

Quizzes 10%

Total 100%

The grading scale is as follows: 89.5-100 =A, 79.5-89.4 = B, 69.5-79.4 = C, 59.5-69.4 = D, 59.4 and below = F.

Final Exam

The optional final exam (only optional for those who have taken all four previous exams) will be available from December 9, 2024 through Friday December 13, 2024. There will be no make-ups for the final exam. Missing the optional final exam will result in a zero for that exam unless there are documented events, considered severe, presented to the instructor within 48 hours.

Readings

Required Reading Materials and Resources

Textbook: Texas Politics and Government: A story bigger than Texas (Decker)

Direct purchase can be obtained from this web address:

https://www.grlcontent.com/

Follow the steps to purchase the eBook (the print version is not actually available) but be sure to sign up for the correct section (039).

The textbook is required reading and will host the quiz component of the course grade. Test questions will be derived from the textbook, PowerPoint lecture slides, vocabulary, quizzes and activities.

Announcements, PowerPoint slides, activities, links to videos and exam reviews will be provided on Blackboard.

Course Subjects

Unit 1
Chapter 1	The Foundation of Texas Politics
Chapter 2	Texas Constitutions
Chapter 3	Interest Groups and Stakeholders in Texas
Chapter 4	Political Parties
Exam 1	Exam will open on	Sept. 9
Exam 1	Exam will close on A&R 1, Quiz Ch 1-4, EC 1 Due	Sept. 15

Unit 2
Chapter 5	Voting and Elections
Chapter 6	The Texas Legislature
Chapter 7	The Governor and the Plural Executive
Exam 2	Exam will open on	Oct. 7
Exam 2	Exam will close on A&R 2, Quiz Ch 5-7, EC 2 Due	Oct. 13

Unit 3
Chapter 8	The State Judiciary
Chapter 9	Criminal Justice
	The American Drug War and Texas
Chapter 10	Local Government
Chapter 11	Education Policy
Exam 3	Exam will open on	Nov. 4
Exam 3	Exam will close on A&R 3, Quiz Ch 8-11, EC 3 Due	Nov. 10

Unit 4
Chapter 12	Economic Policy in Texas
Chapter 13	Domestic Policy
Chapter 14	Environmental Resources and Land Use
Exam 4	Exam will open on	Dec. 2
Exam 4	Exam will close on A&R 4, Quiz Ch 12-14, EC 4 Due	Dec. 8

Optional Exam 5	Exam will open on	Dec. 9
Optional Exam 5	*Optional* Replacement Assignments Due	FRI Dec. 13

Student Learning Outcomes/Learning Objectives

This course is taught as asynchronous and therefore there are no live lectures. Please do ask any questions you may have, as you go through the material, by emailing me or by setting up a video/or phone call appointment. I am here for students to ask questions. Exams must be taken on ACC’s Respondus Lockdown Browsers with a webcam.

Course Description

This course is an introduction to Texas state and local government. The course includes an introduction to a framework for analyzing Texas government and politics, the constitutional basis for Texas government and politics, the processes of Texas government and politics, the institutions of Texas government and politics, and the policies of Texas government and politics.

Course Objectives

Texas state and local government (2306) is designed to motivate students to learn the foundation, functions, and operations of Texas state government for the purpose of attaining a greater understanding of the political process, participation, and institutions.

Office Hours

T Th 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM RVSA 2271

NOTE In person

T Th 1:30 PM - 2:00 PM RVSA 2271

NOTE In Person

F 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM Virtual

NOTE Virtual Only